Nigerian Gazette

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Sunday, described former military head of state, late General Sanni Abacha, and former President of the country, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as great respecters of human rights in Nigeria. Speaking in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State during courtesy call on Governor Dave Umahi at Government House, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Bem Angwe said though Nigerians saw Abacha as military dictator, yet he was the one that brought the human rights they are enjoying today. The National Human Right Commission today started its journey in the year 1995 in a dramatic way. The commission was established by the late General Sanni Abacha, a military leader who Nigerians said was more of a military dictator than a democratic leader. “Fortunately, he is the one that gave Nigeria the legacy of a National Human Right Commission. In 1993, the nations of the world through the United Nations General Assembly, passed a resolution that enjoined all nati...

New facts emerged over the weekend revealing that the trio of Nasir El Rufai, Babatunde Fashola, and Kayode Fayemi forcefully prevailed on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, through its national commissioner and relative to President Muhammadu Buhari, Amina Zakari and the national chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, to switch the name of Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, as the flagbearer of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  for the November 26 Ondo governorship election. Our investigations did not provide clarity as to if President Buhari is privy to the action of his ministers and the governor, who many said have been exerting more power and influence than the president since the All Progressives Congress came to power in 2015. It would be recalled that INEC had replaced the name of Eyitayo in its final list of candidatesreleased last Thursday, claiming it was obeying a court order by Justice Okon Abang despite. The INEC decision suspect because it ignored two other court rulings ...

The Ekiti State House of Assembly has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), calling for the investigation and prosecution of the immediate past governor of the State and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi and others, for allegedly looting the State to the tune of over N40 billion. Abuja. The petition, dated October 24, 2016 and signed by Speaker of the House of Assembly, Pastor Kolawole Oluwawole, was submitted to the EFCC in Abuja today, by the trio of the Deputy Speaker, Hon Segun Adewumi, Chairman House Committee on Information, Dr Samuel Omotoso and Hon Sina Animasaun. The petition was titled; “Complaint of fraudulent practices against former Ekiti State governor and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi & others: Call for investigation & prosecution.” Other people mentioned in the petition are Mr Dapo Kolawole, Mr Yemi Adaramodu, Mr Abiodun Oyebanji, Arc Oyelade (CASA Nig Ltd) and Mr Bayo Kelekun. The Deputy Speake...

Youths in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, under the aegis of Ekiti APC Youths Congress (EAYC) have condemned the Special Adviser (Political) in the office of the Vice President Senator, Babafemi Ojudu for choosing to hold meeting with leaders of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, despite that the association threatened the government and people of Ekiti State over the recently introduced anti-grazing law. In a press statement issued in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday and jointly signed by Mr Tope Ogunkuade and Comrade Tunji Adeleye, Convener and Secretary respectively, the EAYC said it was painful that leaders of the APC like Senator Ojudu always involve themselves in actions that will set Ekiti people against the party. The youths said it was painful that while the entire people of Ekiti State were seeing the the Prohibition of Cattle and other Ruminants Grazing in Ekiti State law, 2016 and its total enforcement beyond political party lines and were standi...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has described the yesterday’s meeting of the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters and former Senator, representing Ekiti Central, Senator Babafemi Ojudu with members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) as a confirmation that the federal government and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State were in support of the invasion of the State by Fulani herdsmen. The party, which expressed worry that Senator Ojudu could choose to play politics with the lives and sources of livelihood of Ekiti people, said; “With Ojudu’s display of friendship with members of the Miyetti Allah, despite the threat issued by the association issued against the government and people of Ekiti State, the State and its people must have seen who their real enemy is.” State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Jackson Adebayo, said in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday that it was strange that the sam...

President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the implementation of school feeding programme and N5000 monthly payment to the poor will not be fully implemented in the 2016 budget because it will take some time to work out proper modalities for their operation. Buhari had proposed N500 billion Special Intervention Programme in the 2016 Budget for these purposes. However, in a letter dated October 24, 2016 written to the National Assembly, titled: “Request for Virement of Funds Appropriated For Special Intervention (Recurrent) and Special Intervention (Capital) for the Funding of critical recurrent and Capital Items, Buhari sought to move some of the funds from the subhead. Buhari, in the letter, wants to move N180 billion from the Special Intervention Programme, which should have taken care of the schools feeding programme and the N5000 monthly for the poor in the country. The letter reads in part: “From the foregoing, the total recurrent expenditure is N166 billion while the...

Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s finance minister, told the Senate that the Muhammadu Buhari-led government can no longer reasonably employ more people into the public sector and would have to strengthen the private sector for more jobs to be created. Mrs. Adeosun also said the government would sustain its over N6 trillion national budget in the 2017 appropriation bill, expected to be submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari, after the consideration and subsequent approval of the pending 2017—2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) by the National Assembly. Adeosun made this disclosure on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 when she appeared before members of the Senate committee on finance, led by its chairman, John Owan Enoh, PDP, Cross River Central, who were on an oversight visit to her ministry. “Even when the economy was growing, when GDP was eight and nine, we had a massive unemployment problem especially our graduates. I’m sure most of us know that gra...

The Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the PDP, has threatened to take disciplinary legal action against the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi -led national caretaker committee if it continues to speak for the party. A statement issued by Mr Bernard Mikko, acting National Publicity Secretary of Sheriff-led faction, warned that a court order had declared the committee illegal. He recalled that a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang in Abuja had declared the Makarfi caretaker `contraption’ as illegal. Sheriff-Makarfi “It will therefore be contemptuous of the court order for Prince Dayo Adeyeye or any member of the illegal Makarfi caretaker contraption to speak for the PDP when a valid court order to the contrary is still subsisting,” Mikko said. Mikko said that the attention of the faction’s National Working Committee had been drawn to various comments on the state of affairs in the PDP. He said that various comments were credited to “one Prince Dayo Adeyeye’’ who claimed ...

The leading militant group operating in the oil-rich region of southern Nigeria, the Niger Delta Avengers, in the early hours of Tuesday, October 25, 2016, blew up a major pipeline, the Chevron Escravos Export Pipeline at Escravos offshore base. In a statement issued on a few minutes ago, the spokesperson of the militant group, Mudoch Agbinibo, claimed responsibility for the attack “is to further warn all IOCs’ that when we warn that there should be no repairs pending negotiation/dialogue with the people of the Niger Delta”. “It means there should be no repairs,” the militants emphasised. “Today at about 3:45am our strike team 06 took down Chevron Escravos export pipeline at Escravos offshore,” the statement said. “Ant attempt to use dialogue to distract us so as to allow the free flow of our oil will halt the dialogue process,” the Avengers warned. Who Are The Niger Delta Avengers? Niger Delta Avengers is a new militancy group that is operating in the oil-rich region of So...

Fayose blasts FG, Miyetti Allah over threat on Ekiti people FULL TEXT OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016, BY EKITI STATE GOVERNOR, MR AYODELE FAYOSE ON THE THREAT BY THE MIYETTI ALLAH CATTLE BREEDERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA TO UNLEASH TERROR ON THE STATE On Saturday, October 22, 2016, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), the umbrella body of herdsmen in Nigeria openly threatened to wage war against the government and people of Ekiti State, lying that four cattle belonging to its member were killed by the newly inaugurated Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshal (EGEM). Four days after this threat was issued against the government and people of Ekiti State by the Miyetti Allah, the federal government is yet to act in any manner that will disabuse the minds of Ekiti people, who believed that the federal government is in support of the threat. The silence of the federal government has no doubt further confirmed the insinuation ...

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said it was impossible for the National Security Adviser (NSA) during his administration, Sambo Dasuki, to have stolen $2.2 billion as claimed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Mr. Dasuki, who has been in detention since December 1, 2015, was arrested by the State Security Service for allegedly misappropriating $2.2 billion meant to purchase equipment for the Nigerian military in its battle against the terrorist Boko Haram group. A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, last Friday granted an application by the EFCC to consolidate two separate cases against the former army Colonel. A statement by the anti-graft commission said Mr. Dasuki would be re-arraigned on November 16. Mr. Jonathan, who spoke at the famous Oxford Union, Oxford United Kingdom, on youth entrepreneurship, argued that it was “not just possible” for Mr. Dasuki to have stolen $2.2 billion after his administration procured several equipm...

The Spiritual side of Aso Villa by Reuben Abati People tend to be alarmed when the Nigerian Presidency takes certain decisions. They don’t think the decision makes sense. Sometimes, they wonder if something has not gone wrong with the thinking process at that highest level of the country. I have heard people insist that there is some form of witchcraft at work in the country’s seat of government. I am ordinarily not a superstitious person, but working in the Villa, I eventually became convinced that there must be something supernatural about power and closeness to it.  I’ll start with a personal testimony. I was given an apartment to live in inside the Villa. It was furnished and equipped. But when my son, Michael arrived, one of my brothers came with a pastor who was supposed to stay in the apartment. But the man refused claiming that the Villa was full of evil spirits and that there would soon be a fire accident in the apartment. He complained about too much human sacrifice aroun...

FFK between life and death in EFCC custody Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister has slumped in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, The Trentcan report. The People’s Democratic Party chieftain was re-arrested by the EFCC on Friday, October 21, 2016 in the premises of the federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos. According to sources familiar with the situation, Fani-Kayode slumped in the EFCC detention centre on Saturday and was rushed to a hospital where he was placed on admission. This development has been confirmed to The Trent by his spokesperson, Jude Ndukwe. In a statement exclusively obtained by our newspaper on Monday, October 24, 2016, Ndukwe conveyed the fears of the Fani-Kayode family over the life of the outspoken critic of the Buhari government. When Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was rearrested on Friday, 21st of October, 2016, in the premises of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, we raised a number of issues which included that the...

The war against corruption which many see as war against political enemies is getting messier, as former presidential spokesperson to president Goodluck Jonathan, Ruben Abati and the immediate past minister for Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed have just been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The duo, according to an EFCC source are currently undergoing interrogation. The source said it is unlikely they regain their freedom soonest. Details later..

Prophet Ade Okeowo of Word of Liberty Evangelical Ministry, Ikorodu, Lagos State, has revealed that Nigeria will soon experience a turnaround as prices on commodities will crash in no time, stating that God did not, however, specify that the revelation would come to pass under President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime. He specifically mentioned that God told him the cost of bag of rice and fuel, will be drastically reduced. He made this revelation in a chat with Encomium, urging Nigerians to stop casting blames on President Buhari, as he needed time to fix the country. He said, “That’s what God has revealed to me. Listen to me attentively; I am not speaking my words but God’s. “Now, people buy rice N25, 000 per bag but God told me that we’re going to buy a bag of rice as cheap as N5, 000. A US dollar will exchange for as low as N150 and fuel will sell for as low as N30 or N40 per litre. That’s what God said will happen in this country.” Asked if his prophecies will come to pass d...

Ekiti State chapter of the peoples Democratic Party has called on President Mahammadu Buhari to immediately set up a probe panel to investigate the grievous bribery allegations made against his minister of transportation, Rotimi Amechi by Justice Sylvester Agwata and Iyang Okoro that he approached him to swing judgement against the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose at the Supreme Court. The party stressed that the early probe becomes necessary especially now that the president has put the judiciary on test of integrity, adding that the probe of  allegations against Amechi will go to a certain extent to determine the culpability of individuals who might have been involved. In  statement by the State publicity secretary of PDP, Mr Jackson Adebayo, President Buhari should be courageous enough look into allegations against his men if want Nigerian to change their opinions that his fight against corruption is selective and vindictive. Adebayo said when judges of the highes...

By Lere Olayinka In the early 90s, we were in one of the old of generation churches in my hometown on December 31 for the annual ritual of “New Year must meet me in the church” stuff. A few minutes to 12 midnight, we were asked to begin to pray and ask God what He should for us in the coming year. Then, I heard a friend of mine asking for cars, houses, children, etc before the end of the coming year. I was an apprentice shoemaker then while my friend was also an apprentice screen printer. After the usual shout of “Happy New Year”, we left the church. Then I asked my friend, “you are an apprentice as myself, why not ask God to give you wisdom and grace to learn this job and establish yourself first? How do you build houses, buy cars and have children within one year as an apprentice?” We both laughed and continued with the merriment of the new year. Today, that incident of over 20 years came to my mind and I felt I should ask each and every one of us this Sunday, what manner ...

•First Lady Seeks Asylum In UK Reliable information reveal the troubles bedeviling the 1st family of Nigeria maybe far from over judging by the demeanor of the President of the federal republic of Nigeria and the body language instruction dished out to the various anti-graft agencies in the country. A highly reliable source stated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] has opened a comprehensive probe on the person of the 1st lady over her interaction with the many lobbyists looking to reach her husband for a favor. Source revealed that the relationship between the 1st lady and the President had so much deteriorated to a near none existent following a few days after the swearing-in as the President of the federal republic of Nigeria. Chief on the top reasons why the President turned away from the 1st lady was her desire to play the role of the 1st lady in the manner other 1st ladies had played – in the likes of Stella Obasanjo, Turaki Yar’Adua and Patience Jo...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, once again lived up to its billing of being used by the current administration for the sinister purposes of silencing the opposition under the guise of fighting corruption. As expected and as earlier stated in his press statement, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode had already raised the alarm that he was going to be rearrested by the EFCC as the organisation whose operations have become easily predictable have graduated from being an investigative body meant to serve the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians to a vindictive institution willing to do the biddings of some vengeful cabal whose existence even the wife of the president confirmed recently. Let it be on record that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was held for 67 days in EFCC custody who used questionable orders from magistrates to perpetuate their illegality. While in their custody he suffered all forms of abuses, trauma and even physical attacks from some of the agents of the Commission. T...